This encouraging piece in today’s Times Online arguably shows us how a sustained military presence in Iraq could work. The case study, one expected to be a cornerstone in General Petraeus’s report next month, is the Ramadi success story:

Ramadi’s transformation is breathtaking. Shortly before I arrived last November masked al-Qaeda fighters had brazenly marched through the city centre, pronouncing it the capital of a new Islamic caliphate.| MORE ›

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The Center for America Progress’ (CAP) recent study entitled “How to Redeploy: Implementing a Responsible Drawdown of U.S. Forces from Iraq” (PDF alert) features a quote from Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War:| MORE ›

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Although I supported Greenpeace for a number of years with monthly donations, my subsequent scepsis over the global warming mania has probably forever destroyed my ‘green credentials’. And that is the trouble with the debate over this issue. The near religious fervor with which global warming has been defined as an undeniable fact for which there are only a few pre-ordained causes is deeply troubling. Any critic is either sponsored by AEI or on the payroll of big oil.| MORE ›

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During last year’s State of the Union Address, President Bush, feigning boldness, declared that America has a problem. In laying out his energy plan for the year, the president declared that America “is addicted to oil.” Al Gore, certainly the most prominent of the climate change champions, often echoes the very same idea. I have never liked this blame the buyer first argument.| MORE ›

CNN  is reporting that Pakistani President/military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf has agreed to step down as head of the country’s military, in an apparent concession made in negotiations with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. 

The announcement isn’t official, but Bhutto believes it could be a step in the right direction for a more “democratic” Pakistan:| MORE ›

Hi all, I have a post up at RealClearBlogs: Is Blogging Too Bourgeois?

Check it out. Thanks.

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This week it will be ten years ago that Diana, Princess of Wales died and the remembrance train is in full swing. No doubt it will all culminate in wall-to-wall coverage this coming Friday, the actual date on which she died in a car accident in Paris. So if you’re allergic to it all, make sure you tune out on that day.

The case however has fascinated me immensely and it is worthwhile contemplating the two key aspects of her death.| MORE ›

Last week, I asked this site’s readers to consider and chime in on the subject of John McCain’s opposition to torture and the cool reception he receives among certain members of the Leftosphere when he voices that opposition — like he did recently on The Daily Show.

I didn’t get all of the answers for which I was looking, but this much became clear: Love him or hate him, McCain (of all people) does not deserve to be singled out for criticism on this issue.

For those interested, the complete wrap-up is available at Central Sanity.

Ok, so can we maybe reach a bargain here?

If we can agree that President Bush is an idiot for comparing Iraq to Vietnam, can we please not compare the possibility of American withdrawal to The American Civil War?

Matthew Yglesias has done just that, in addition to drawing a parallel with the Lebanese Civil War. His reasoning goes as follows:| MORE ›